Rainy days inspire me to blog

It's a rainy afternoon, thank God, because we really needed rain. If nothing else, just to drop the temperature below 100 degrees. So since it's raining, Kreid is upstairs, rustling around before he crashes for his afternoon nap and I've a few spare seconds, so I thought I'd blog to catch everyone up on all things Smith family.

You probably already know that I am going to Ethiopia in a few weeks. Wow. A FEW weeks. Crazy. If you didn't already know, click here to read all about it. I am excited, nervous, overjoyed, exasperated, and probably about a hundred other emotions about this trip already, so God only knows what is in store. For one thing I am certain, God is leading the way. I began this journey not certain if I should fundraise or just work hard to save up the $3000 to pay my way and the $500 extra for traveling expenses. At my first attempts to fundraise I did not receive a huge response, so I thought, 'well, maybe we're supposed to make the sacrifice and save, save, save'. I talked to Rob (he was deployed at the time) and he said, "we'll just pray about it and see where we are led." The next day, I had five (seriously) people ask me how they could help contribute to my trip. OKAY, Lord, I got your message LOUD AND CLEAR. So there, I began my fundraising journey. Little did I know then that the Lord was really going to show off. I mean REALLY. The week before our first due date, when half of our total was due and I just knew I'd be writing a huge check that next week, I received a super-generous contribution that knocked that number down substantially. And it just snowballed from there, to include many contributions both small and large (it ALL helps!) and a $500 grant from Ordinary Hero because SO many supported me by purchasing items which I earned commission for. You can read more about that here, on OH's blog. Now, I am so excited to report that my portion of the trip has been completely funded. I am however still fundraising, because not all of our ten-person team have raised their funds. Anything above and beyond my $3000 raised will go towards another team members trip. So if you were interested in helping us go to Ethiopia, we still need your support.

Okay, enough about that for now. This might be a long blog...I hope you're up for some reading. ;)

This summer was fun and horrible all in the same. How do you manage that, you ask? Well, you enjoy a fantastic summer with half of your family, but wish the other half was there for everything too. This summer, like last, Xzayvier spent it in Texas with his mom. It is wonderful for him, because he has two younger brothers who he loves so much and he gets to spend so much time with his mom. It stinks for us though. Kreid adores Zay, so he asked about him nearly every day. The other downer was Rob was deployed through almost all of the summer. While I try to keep my head up while he's away, it's hard not to fall into a full-on pity party on a daily basis when the person you love most is nowhere near you for months. Praise the Lord, Rob is back home for a while and Zay will return this weekend. The Smith family will be restored to it's original parts before we know it.

Charley also visited this summer. Charley is Rob's daughter. She is the sweetest, most easy-going, awesome 13-year-old I know. We had so much fun with her here. Mekyla especially loved having her big sister around, even if it was just for a week. We can't wait until her next visit.

Charley

The girls during our bowling night.

Rob and Charley

Kreid and Charley, swimmin' it up.

So Kreid is three now. Wow that makes me excited and sad all in the same. I L.O.V.E. the three-year-old version of Kreid. He is so stinkin' sweet it's ridiculous. I get at least 20 kisses a day from him. He's my snuggler and I love to cuddle, so he speaks my love language. He is THE baby of our family. BUT he's no baby anymore. That makes me sad. I just wasn't ready for toddler-dom to strike so soon. Either way, we're having a blast, I just have to take the sweet 'baby' things he does when I get them and encourage him to keep on track to be a big boy too.

Too big. Too cute.

Our pretty girl.

Mekyla...well, not much has changed in that department. She is still princess of this roost, as much as we try not to give in to that, she's persistent. The funny thing is, she's becoming a little tomboy but she still wants to be treated like our sweet little girl. She's still sassy as ever though, so being treated like that sweet little girl doesn't always work out. She and Xzayvier will begin third grade this year. How did that happen? Wasn't Kreid just born and didn't we JUST send them off to kindergarten? Goodness time flies.

Okay, onto the next blog, where I will finally write for Kreid's 3rd birthday...you know, only three weeks late. :)